Detroit Police Chief James Craig addresses media Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 alongside the father of security guard killed while trying to save a woman and child from a carjacking on Wednesday.(Katie Bailey | MLive)

Police released the video in hopes of attracting help locating the men who can be seen ordering a woman and child out of a vehicle in the parking lot at the corner of Schaefer Highway and Grove Avenue near McNichols Road in a high-traffic area of northwest Detroit.

Courtney Meeks, an off-screen security guard, was shot to death in the incident, according to police.

At first look, it's difficult to notice exactly what's happening in the 20-second video. But repeated viewing reveals details matching the sequence of events described by police.

Two women and six-year-old child pulled into the parking lot around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, and while one of the women was inside the store two armed men approached the Ford Taurus at 8:48 p.m. and ordered the woman and child who were still in the car to get out, police said.

Police said the woman who was inside the store saw what was happening as she was returning to the car and ran back inside screaming for help.

She can be seen in the video approaching the vehicle and running away as one of the suspects raises his arm toward her, possibly pointing a gun.

The second suspect circles the vehicle and appears to point a gun toward the store entrance in the video before the two get inside the car and drive out of the busy parking lot.

"The CVS security officer, a brave young man who had recently filled out an interest card to join the Detroit Police Academy, valiantly ran to the aid of the woman and child," police said in a news release.

"The two cowardly suspects then fired one shot at him, striking him in the neck as they drove away in the Ford Taurus."

Meeks, 24, was later pronounced dead at an area hospital.

"He's a hero," said Detroit Police Chief James Craig in a press conference outside the store Thursday. "It's a tragic situation."

Craig said police arrived at the scene within four minutes and the vehicle was found two blocks away. But a K-9 team was unable to find the suspects.

The vehicle is being examined for forensic evidence, police said.

Investigators believe the two suspects and a third man attempted to carjack a woman a block away prior to the CVS incident. They failed in that attempt because the vehicle had a push button start. The suspects ran away when they couldn't start it, police said.

One suspect was described as as a 5-foot-6, slim, medium-complexioned black man in his early 20s with a scruffy beard, wearing a black skull cap and red coat with blue writing on it, possibly a logo containing the letters "SC."

The second suspect was described as a 5-foot-6, slim, light-complexioned black man with a black and gray winter coat.

And the third suspect, wanted in connection with the earlier carjacking attempt, was described as a 5-foot-8, 160-pound, medium-complexioned black man with a slim build wearing a dark tan coat and a hoodie.

All three men were armed, police said.

"We expect to receive calls," Craig said. "We know that there are people in the neighborhood that know."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Detroit police homicide division at 313-596-2260.

The father of the security guard attended the Thursday press conference, but declined to speak to reporters.

Barbara Garrett, a northwest Detroit resident who was walking into the CVS store after police held the press conference Thursday afternoon, was disturbed the news.

"It's not good to have things like this going on near your neighborhood," she said.